On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid:

Onward with the struggle to put an end to communal violence and state terrorism!

Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 28 November, 2017

The 6th of December this year marks the 25th anniversary of the demolition of the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya, known as Babri Masjid.

The demolition of Babri Masjid was pre-meditated and planned well in advance.Lakhs of karsevaks from all over the country had been assembled in Ayodhya.The security forces were ordered to stay far away from the site. Prominent members of Parliament were among those who provided on-site supervision of the process, calling Babri Masjid a symbol of past slavery of Hindus to Muslim rulers.

The then BJP-led Government of Uttar Pradesh let the historic monument be destroyed after having sworn to prevent such vandalism.The then Congress-led Government of India looked on silently and refused to take any action to prevent this criminal act.

The destruction of Babri Masjid was followed by organised communal violence in Mumbai, Surat and many other places.Thousands of people were killed.An official Commission of Enquiry confirmed that BJP, Congress Party and Shiv Sena leaders had been involved in inciting the violence.However, nobody has been punished in the 25 years since these crimes were committed.

On 5th December, 2017, the Supreme Court is scheduled to begin “final hearing” on a dispute over who owns the land on which the destroyed monument stood and what if anything should be built in its place.

Justice demands conviction and punishment of those who organised the demolition of Babri Masjid and incited communal violence 25 years ago.Any talk of settling the matter without punishing the guilty is the height of injustice.

The highest court in the country is not questioning why the Republic of India failed to protect a historical monument and to protect the right to conscience and right to life of thousands of its own citizens. It shows that not only the executive and the legislature but also the judiciary is part of the capitalist machinery of divide and rule.

The so-called Ayodhya dispute is being deliberately revived.The aim is to once again divide, divert and terrorise the people so as to impose the dictate of the capitalist class headed by the monopoly houses.The people of India need to be vigilant and unite against this evil design of the ruling class.

Historical Facts

People of different religious faiths had been living amicably in Ayodhya (in today’s Faizabad district of UP) for many centuries in pre-colonial times. The first recorded Hindu-Muslim dispute there took place around 1850. It was incited by the British colonial rulers to divide the people and take over Awadh from the then ruler, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.The dispute was settled quickly, with a written agreement approved by the Nawab, which laid down the rules of worship by Hindus and Muslims.After the Ghadar of 1857, the British rulers tore up that written agreement.They erected railings around Babri Masjid to prevent anyone from entering the premises. They concocted the lie that Babri Masjid was built after destroying a Ram temple in that site and published this in the Faizabad Gazeteer.They initiated a legal case in the Faizabad civil court.

After the end of colonial rule, in the night of 22nd December, 1949, an idol of Ram Lalla was placed inside the mosque by a communal gang under the supervision of a senior government officer.Prime Minister Nehru and the government he headed took no action to remove the idol.They allowed the propaganda to be spread that this idol had appeared as a result of a miracle.

In 1984, Vishwa Hindu Parishad announced plans to build a Ram Temple at the site where Babri Masjid stood, claiming it was the birth place of Ram. The leadership of VHP included both Congress and BJP veterans.

In 1986, prompted by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Faizabad district court ordered the gates of Babri Masjid to be opened for worship by Hindus. In 1989, just before the next General Elections, the courts allowed “Shilanyas” (foundation ceremony for a new temple) at the site. Rajiv Gandhi, who had led the Congress campaign in 1985 with the slogan “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan!”, launched the campaign for the 1989 General Elections from Faizabad, promising “Ram Rajya”. BJP leader Advani launched a rath yatra from Somnath Temple in Gujarat to mobilise support for the construction of a Ram Temple at Ayodhya.

Big capitalists pumped in crores of rupees into the coffers of the VHP for pursuing the Ram mandir movement.Bricks marked with religious symbols were collected from over 2,00,000 villages for the construction of the temple. This campaign carried on for three years, culminating in the destruction of Babri Masjid.

Turning Point

The demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 exposed the criminal nature of the political process, which allows ruling and principal opposition parties in Parliament to act with impunity and get away with any crime. It showed that the existing State is not an organ for protecting the people and our heritage, but an organ of an exploiting minority and its criminalized parties to divide and rule over the people.It became visible to everyone that people have no power in the existing system of democracy.People have no means of holding their elected representatives to account.

Communist Ghadar Party considered this event to be a turning point in Indian politics.

The old method of relying on the Congress Party as the principal vehicle for fooling the people had exhausted its potential. The big bourgeoisie needed to promote an alternative, suited to its aggressive pursuit of imperialist aims. It wanted to dump the “socialistic pattern” which it had promoted in the preceding period and openly embrace the “free market” prescriptions. It needed a party that would be free of the baggage of the earlier period and could blame all the problems facing Indian society on the Congress Party. It organised the rise of BJP, presenting itself as the only party that can champion the interests of the “Hindu majority” and take India into the global big power club.The Congress Party assumed the role of the secular alternative, contending and colluding with the BJP in dividing the people along communal and caste lines, while pursuing the same course of globalization through privatization and liberalization.

Our Party pointed out that the Congress Party and BJP are two sides of one coin.They act in tandem to push the agenda of the big bourgeoisie. They are equally to blame for the communalization and criminalization of politics.

BJP promotes the medieval barbaric notion that Muslims of today must pay for the crimes committed by Islamic rulers in the past.The Congress Party preaches the British colonial mantra that the “majority community” must tolerate the minorities.Those who are disgusted with the BJP’s vengeful ideas are sought to be mobilized by the Congress in the name of secularism.Those who are disgusted with the Congress are sought to be mobilized by the BJP in the name of Hindutva and revenge against other religions.Each side requires the other in order to flourish.

A historic rally took place on 22nd February, 1993, at Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi, at a time when the central Government had issued a ban on all protest rallies in the capital.Our Party joined hands with numerous activists of workers’ unions, women’s organisations and human rights organisationsin this bold action.A loud protest was raised that day on behalf of all Indians of conscience.The protestors called for democratic renewal of the political process so as to empower the people and put an end to the domination of politics by criminalized parties like the BJP and the Congress.

The appeal published and distributed by that historic rally pointed out that communal violence was being unleashed to divide and divert the people at a time when a series of economic reforms which attack the livelihood and rights of workers and peasants was being pushed through in Parliament. Communist Ghadar Party warned the people that communal violence and state terror had become the most preferred method of rule in the present period, when the big bourgeoisie is on an aggressive and extremely dangerous drive towards its imperialist aims and dreams.

The Party argued that in order to put an end to the menace of communal violence and state terrorism, it is necessary to transform the political process so as to empower the people.Political parties must not be allowed to monopolize power and exclude the vast majority of people from the decision-making process. Not only political parties but all organisations of the people must enjoy equal right to nominate candidates.From among those nominated, the voters in every constituency must exercise the right to select the final shortlist of candidates for election. They must enjoy the right of recall and the right to initiate legislation.

Life experience over the past 25 years confirms that the existing political process is indeed designed to marginalize the vast majority of people and concentrate political power in very few hands.It also confirms that state sponsored communal violence has become the preferred method for the capitalist class, headed by about 150 monopoly houses, to impose its dictate on 125 crore Indians and pursue its imperialist drive.

Conclusion

It is not the people and their religious beliefs which are responsible for the “Ayodhya dispute” and the repeated incidents of large-scale communal violence around it.It is the ruling class and its State which are responsible.

Inspiring hatred and inciting enmity between the followers of different religions and portraying people of a particular religion as the enemy of the nation to justify unleashing state terror against them has become the preferred form of governance. It serves to keep workers and peasants divided and diverted, paving the way for the unpopular program of globalization, liberalization and privatization.

The machinery of divide and rule includes the executive, legislative and judicial arms of the State.In addition, it includes the media controlled by the corporate houses.It includes numerous non-party organisations which spread communal hatred and set people of different religious faiths against one another.

The struggle against communal violence is part and parcel of the struggle against the big bourgeoisie and its anti-social offensive.It is a struggle that must be directed against both the BJP and Congress Party.It must be directed against the State which defends the dictatorship of an exploiting minority over the entire society.

People who are targeted on the basis of their religious identity have every right to get together as a religious group and organize collective self defence. Those who call them communal are turning truth on its head and blaming the victims.

Communist Ghadar Party is committed to lead the struggle in defence of the universal right to conscience, towards the goal of of vesting sovereignty in the people.We are committed to the goal of establishing and defending a State that upholds and protects the right of every person to his or her religious belief and form of worship, as well as the right not to believe in God and not to practice any religion.Such a State would mete out exemplary punishment to anyone who uses religion, caste, gender, nationality or race to violate the rights of any human being in the country.

Come, let us unite and carry forward the struggle to vest sovereignty in the people and put an end to the menace of communal violence and all forms of state terrorism!

Tag:

Share Everywhere

PARTY DOCUMENTS

The first part of this pamphlet is an analysis of facts and phenomena to identify and expose the real aims behind the Note Ban. The second part is devoted to a critical appraisal of the government’s claims that it will reduce inequality, corruption and terrorism. The third part is what Communist Ghadar Party believes is the real solution to these problems and the immediate program of action towards that solution.

100 years ago Ghadar Party was formed by Indians in the US.It was historic milestone in our anti-colonial struggle.

The goal of this party was to organise a revolution to liberate our motherland from British servitude and establish a free and independent India with equal rights for all. It believed this to be the necessary condition for our people to hold their heads high anywhere in the world.

Call of the Central Committee of Communist Ghadar Party of India, 30th August, 2012

Working class representatives from all over the country are gathering on 4th September, at a time when a titanic struggle is going on in our country. The struggle is between the majority of toiling and exploited people and a minority of exploiters. It is between the majority whose labour expands wealth and the minority who enjoy the fruits of wealth creation on the basis of their private property and positions of power.